The present invention relates to fishing equipment, and more particularly to bottom traps for catching shellfish such as lobster, crab and shrimp.
Baited bottom traps for catching shellfish have long been employed by fisherman. The usual such trap is hand made and consists of a floodable wooden or wire enclosure of square or rectangular form with an inwardly converging entrance passage extending from the side or top of the enclosure to the interior thereof. Traps of wooden construction deteriorate rapidly in use since they are subject to rot and attack by marine organisms. Wire traps are subject to corrosion in a sea water environment. Because of these factors many available shellfish traps have a limited useful life and require great expenditure of time and resources for their maintenance.
In many trap designs, the entrance passage is formed by netting or wire to provide the footing necessary for the catch to enter the trap and establish the size of the trap opening. These latter constructions are also subject to rapid deterioration in a marine environment, and in addition, the size of the trap opening cannot be readily changed.
The foregoing difficulties are partially overcome by use of traps formed of molded plastic and having plastic entrance passages with flexible interior terminations. U.S. Pat. No. 3,271,894 shows a design of such a plastic shellfish trap entrance passage. U.S. Pat. No. 3,497,989 discloses a shellfish trap formed entirely of plastic material with entrance passages terminating in flexible members. The latter two designs provide a continuous firm transit surface for the entering catch for part of the passage length, but terminate in converging resilient finger-like members at the interior end of the trap entrance passage. Such passage construction permits entry of shellfish of varying size, and the flexibility of the resilient fingers prevents escape, since they will not support the weight of shellfish seeking to get out of the trap. Although presenting advantages, experience has demonstrated that the trap passage designs of the above referenced patents do not provide the desired control of the trap entrance size. Fishermen endeavor to overcome this by bending the resilient members inwardly to reduce the trap opening. However, taking such action causes the entrance passage to become discontinuous and irregular which inhibits the entry of shellfish, particularly lobster, into the trap. It is desirable therefore to provide a shellfish trap which overcomes difficult manufacturing and maintenance problems long associated with such equipment, is easily used and stored, and which also may be readily configured to accommodate a shellfish catch of particular size and type.